Mazda RX-8 Starting and Stalling Problems

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Hi there,my name is Gary and i am about to purchase a used '04 RX8. i am getting scared though of all these customer reviews with all these horror stories about flooding engines and broken this and broken that and A/C not keeping the cabin cool enough. I just read your post about how you have to keep the car above 4000rpm most of the time. So, does this mean I have to drive the car fast all the time or can i just drive in lower gears? Because if I start getting a lot of speeding tickets my wife will kill me. LOL.I only work 7 miles from home and it isn't a "fast" road. so i can't speed on it, plus cops are always patrolling the road. Any suggestions as to what i should do? I really want this car but I don't want it in the shop all the time like all these other idiots! LOL

So, again, would it be ok to ride it in lower gears for that higher RPM?

Also, is it true...you shouldn't turn the car on and then turn it right back off? you should let it warm up a bit? what about winters? is it hard to start if it has been sitting in my parking lot at work for 3-4 hours in 25 degree weather?

thank you for ANY advice you can give me!if you want, you can email me at [email protected] with anything you have to offer for advice. i want to keep this car pristine!

yes it your starter is you car is out of warrenty?If you disconnect the battey and reinstall a new battery auto matic you computer will reset itself..and then out have to do thid1) turn on the ingition turn your wheel clockwise all the way and then turn it counterclock wise and that should reset you steering

I have a 04 RX-8 - 72,000 miles and Mazda just replaced the engine. Got the car back and the car stalled every time you came to a stop once it warmed up.

Took Jeff Haas Mazda some time to trouble shoot, but here was the problem - the rubber hoses to the automatic transmission were weak and when they got hot, they would basically close up when coming to a halt and the torque converter would not have full pressure - the car would go from 800 RPM to 400 RPM because it was still trying to go a little and then die.

New hoses - problem solved. The way to trouble shoot according to the dealership was to watch the engine temperature and the transmission fluid temperature. Once the hose started to collapse - the transmission got hotter - and when you stopped, the fluid did not go through the lines as it should - causing the engine to labor and then quit.

Mazda covered all of the repairs under warranty - at least for this situation right after a new engine.

ok get this i have a 04 AT 8 it was parked in the morning went to leave later that night and it wont start all the lights and radio work, tried jumping it nothing still motor turnes when trying to start but it seems like theres either no spark or maybe no fuel, but it has a full tank of gas plus i checked and replaced almost all the fuses get back at me if you know whats up

Thanks i all ready knew about turning the wheel clockwise then counter clock wise and you have to turn the car off then back on again to get the DSC light to go off but when i disconnected the battery and reconnected it the idol went very low when i took it to the dealer they said they re flashed the computer to get the idol back to normal. I find that hard to believe but thats what the dealer said. Thanks again for your advise.

Ok. I bought a used 04 with 54,000. It is beautiful, silver, GT with all the bells and whistles. It had a vibration above 50, so they said that I needed to replace motor mounts and rear drive shaft. After much screaming...the dealership replaced them. No charge,,,2 weeks down time, still has the same exact vibration. Now, last Sat. it lost power on the freeway, bogged down, and sounded horrible. Had it towed to dealership. They informed me today that I needed new ignition coils, wasn't sparking properly,and air filter was "really" dirty. (bought this car 4 months ago FROM dealership). After agreeing to pay $330 to fix these problems, I get the next call that I need a new engine. Which they will cover since its under Mazda warrenty. But what else should I ask them to check before I accept it? The converter? Hoses? What else goes out with this problem...and why? Any guidance would be apreiciated! Thanks

Yikes! Sorry to hear that. Yet again. . .my 05 RX-8 did the same thing. (Sorry everyone. . .you will probably get tired of me saying that. . .) Make sure they replace the solenoid valves. It is a common thing to need to replace the coils and spark plug cables also. That is because the oil is used at the same rate as the gas. The rotary requires a lot of attention. Don't just take it for a quick run to the grocery store, you have to heat it up before you turn it off.

No actually the engine was very quiet and running smooth the problem was when i was driving and i suddenly stopped the car then it would stall, but if i braked slowly the car stayed on. The dealer fixed the problem when they replaced the spark plugs,coils and iac sensor.

we just bought a mazda 323 in excellent shape ,, got her on ther road and have one problem .. you have toaintain a full tank of of gas or it will stall going around a right hand corner ,,, and suggestions plz help ,,

the stalling issues are normally in the 2005 RX-8's. Driving it for 15 mins depends on where you live, but as long as the motor is warmed up before you turn it off it will be fine to drive. Just be sure to put premium gas in it.

I've been trying top help him with the flooding problem. He knows all the tricks to shutting it off but I have an idea. It seems like the fuel is still being injected when the car is shut off.

Do you think that putting a fuel shutoff valve in line with the fuel pump might eliminate the problems of flooding? Here's how it would work. Instead of shutting the car off with the ignition/start key, turn off the fuel to the car off and that would result in burning off any fuel left in the system. Then..................after the engine stops, turn off the ignition key. What do you guys think?

I have the same problem, full tank or it is going to stall as soon as release the accelerator ( mine is Manual Transmission) last time I had stalling problem and when I full the tank, I did not stall from that moment and I thought a miracle happened and now when my tank is half it stall again.

steventerri what part did you change or anybody please and suggestion.

plus, my AC is running with no stop, on technical booklet says it case stalling too, any idea and suggestion please,

it is probably flooded,this car seems to easily do that,pull out fuel pump fuse and proceed to try starting,push gas pedal all the way then let off a bit repeat this proscess until starts will take a little while,when starts put fuse back in

Mine liked to randomly not crank when the battery was drained. You probably need a new battery with more cold cranking amps. I got the diehard plat. with the highest amount of cca's possible that we could squeeze in. Haven't had a problem since.

I have a 2008 RX8 with 33,000 miles on it. My car wouldn't start. I got it to the Mazda dealer, and they said there was a blockage in the catalytic converter that didn't allow all the exhaust to get out and damaged the engine. Now they are going to provide me with a re-manufactured engine with new parts. It's under warranty. My concern is how the new re-manufactured engine will work. I'm wondering whether I should do a straight trade of my RX8 for a Mazda 3 (since I have about $15,000 left on the loan). I wanted to get anyone's opinion on what I should do and if they've ever had an RX8 with a new, re-manufactured engine.

I had an '05 that at the time had approx 40k miles on it, and they had to replace the motor (they weren't able to tell me why, they had no idea) and I got a re-manufactured motor, I drove it for about 1 more year and decided that the RX-8 was a money pit and traded it in. I decided that if I was going to throw money down a hole, that it was going to be to a boat or something that I could at least enjoy upon occasion.

The only thing i could think of is maybe one of the cables are not making proper connection with one of the spark plugs or your idle air control valve needs to be replaced (or if you disconnected the battery you might have to bring your car to the dealer or a mechanic to reflash the computer. (NOTE bring to dealer to reflash not any mechanic)

Your car is only programmed to go so fast and to allow a certain fuel to oxygen ratio. to flash your car means your changing those ratio's allowing your car to perform at it's true unrestricted performance. when you disconnected the battery it probably threw the computer off, the dealer might charge $100-$150 dollars to flash the computer. The same happened to me when I changed my battery, when I slowly came to a stop no problem (but i could see the idle needle go down slightly) but when i came to a fast sudden stop the car would shut off. I hope this info helped good luck.

It's possible if the thermostat locked restricting antifreeze flow, or if you had a leak anywhere like a hose that would cause your car to overheat and shut off any time, not when you put on your brakes.I'm assuming your car was working just fine until you disconnected the battery to change the spark plugs so i don't think it's the thermostat or radiator, (but that's only my opinion) I don't want to mislead you about the mechanics honesty but the mechanic could be right he probably found that other problem while checking your car.